Where is the excitement

[kt]

Last year we had some psyched up folks in here by now, and i dont know about you guys but i have five days till the killing begins. Cannot wait. Once again a summer has passed and my decoys have not recieved paint
kt

[fabsroman]

Once again, a summer has passed and I have done absolutely no scouting. Things are going to change once I finish up this garage and get all my hunting hear up here from my parents.

[kt]

well tonight i drove with a few buddies to cabelas, and you know what we bought, I bought my mom some candied walnuts that she likes. i was after a goose flag, the only ones they had were crap, steel shot selection was horrible, I am not paying 18 for a box of win supreme or anything steel for that. my one buddy has some cabela credit points to use, wanted to check out these new canda full bodies that are flocked head to toe, well up close the seams are not sanded and they look like they were spray painted from ten foot away at $139 per 4, yes i said per 4! and his kid needs to upgrade from a big river game call flute his late grandpa gave him to a real call. lets see, he played with the zink power clucker, he likes it, i think it sounds like hell, he is new to short reeds but it has no GRRRRRRR before it snaps to a honk. the foiles meat cutter i think it was about 60 bucks really didnt have a nice sound to my ears or his, now there was a kid about 13 blowing one of their high end calls and i was amazed at the realistic tones. when all was said, between us three we spent five dollars on nuts!
kt

[tjwatty]

kt,
I feel your pain, I have been using a Big River flute and went to a Fred Harvey flute, (basically the same) just won't give me the sounds I want. I have a friend who gives seminars on goose calling and he uses a Foiles Straight Meat, I think. One of the high end Foiles calls at any rate, I've spent the better part of 6 hrs working with the short reed Foiles and am just now beginning to get where I think it sounds the way it should. I don't think I am going to master it to my level of satisfaction by season so I will go back to good ole "Freddy" probably forgetting all I have learned until next year. But I will master that short reed or else.
I think the old adage of ,you get what you pay for, in goose calls is very applicable. I have drawers full of $20 calls that sounded good in the store but suck in the blind/cold.
I call way more ducks anyway so I'll let the others call geese and I'll stick to corn buzzards, for now.

[fabsroman]

What is a corn buzzard? Would that be a snow goose?

As far as calls are concerned, I couldn't blow a short reed at all when I tried them and just thought they weren't for me. A buddy got one and started blowing it pretty good out in the field, but he had practiced for hours. When I went to look at them at the PA show, I was talking to a lady that said, have you played a musical instrument before. I answered that I played the trumpet for many years, thinking she might say it was just like that. She didn't. She said that I should know that you cannot pick up a trumpet and start playing great without plenty of practice, and that is what a short reed takes. I bought the Tim Grounds plastic short reed for around $65, practiced with it in the car during the summer, and got pretty decent with it.

You need to buy a decent call and practice with it. I am debating the purchase of a Foiles acrylic call for $150, but just have a hard time parting with that much money. The first short reed I bought was a Uncle Buck one for $30 and it sounded like crap and it still does.

As far as going to Cabelas or Outdoor World, I always find it better to shop on-line than in the store unless I want to buy a gun.

[Tater]

The exctiement is in calling in that first group of ducks. I never duck hunted before last year and I was hooked the first day. Two hours of bordom followed by 3 seconds of pure adrenaline. It doesn't get much better than that without breaking some laws.

[tjwatty]

fabs, you are young, corn buzzard, mustard lips, green head. All good redneck, Mississippi River bottom necknames for Mr. Mallard.
I bought the Foiles and am still practicing, but it's getting too close to the season for me to go with a call I'm not comfortable with. I could be passable but I'm into the refining stuff now. I want the moans, and clucks and all the other little sublties. I can do all that stuff with a duck call without thinking so all I have to do is read the ducks and make the talk that they want. I can't yet do that with the foiles. A couple more lessons maybe, I do like that call though.

[kt]

excitement has passed, opening day , waded in bdu's across a knee deep creek. got soaked in the cat tails, didnt even hear a honk as usual. ready for november geese now
kt

[fabsroman]

Yeah, I am not too fond of the early season because it is too hot and when you get them coming in it is usually a slaughter and you just cannot get them breasted quick enough. Plus, you need some huge coolers to keep them in until you can get them breasted out.

With that said, I might give it a try toward the middle of September.

[kt]

this morning for the first time in 6 years the beretta jammed. 3 landed at about 10 foot, sailed the first one into standing corn, the other two were saved by a shell that wouldnt chamber. this evening a really dumb goose let me paddle a canoe within 20 yds of him, well he wont see another canoe. i have broke the september geese jinx, it usually gets better from here
kt

[fabsroman]

I scouted a farm on Saturday that is 180 acres of standing corn with a pond in the middle. Once the corn gets cut, things should get really good over there.

[kt]

now that is worth getting excited. ponds here are getting hard to come by. the few that are available are hunted heavy and my favorite one was just purchased property that will soon be an industrial park. chalk another one up for industry and progress
kt